AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Taking her hand, I pull her away from the crowd and over by the trees. “What happened, Sunshine? Did Smoke say or do something? Or someone else?”
She shakes her head vehemently. “It’s nothing, Timber. I’m okay.”
I ignore the fact that she called me Timber instead of Liam, since we’re not within earshot of the others. Instead, I focus on her. “You’re not okay. You’re shaking like a leaf and you’re really pale. What happened?”
She bites her lip as she shakes her head again, looking down. “I don’t want to talk about it. Not here when we’re supposed to all be happy and celebrating the twins,” she whispers as a tear finally escapes and the knots in my gut get tighter.
She wipes the tear away angrily and then uses her fingers to wipe away other tears at her lash line. The fact that she still won’t look at me is bugging the shit out of me.
“We’ll talk later then, but I do expect you to tell me what happened. I can’t help if I don’t know what’s going on. Whenever you want to go, I’ll take you back to the house where you can get settled in and we can talk with it just being us or we can just relax for a while. I’ll skip the competition if you feel like you need to leave the party now. Someone can fill in for me or they can skip straight to round two with me being eliminated first. Do you want to leave or stay for a while?”
Emotions flit across her face before she lowers her head. “Stay. I want to see the competition. I’ve never seen one before and it intrigues me,” she whispers.
Pulling her into my arms, I hate how her body remains stiff. Kissing the crown of her head, I hope I’m not right, but it seems like I might be. If that fucker scares her off and she leaves the safety of the compound, I’ll kill him myself. Especially if her stepdad or Bruce get their fucking hands on her because of his fucking issues.
Pulling back slightly, I lift her chin so that she’s forced to look at me. “If whatever happened scared you, please don’t run, Sunshine. We’ll talk and go from there. If you still feel like you want to leave after that, then I’ll pack a bag and we’ll go together. You’re not getting away from me that easily now that I’ve finally found you, Sunshine.”
Her lips part as her brow furrows. Later I’ll make her see she’s it for me. My Old Lady. My wife. She’s my everything now.
She frowns and another tear escapes. “What if he won’t ever accept me? That me staying here and being with you causes a rift between all of you in the club. If we live here at the compound in your house, I’d have to always walk around on eggshells because of him. Not knowing who’s truly my friend or who’s looking for a way to stab me in the back the first chance they get so they can throw me out. I refuse to keep living my life like that. I also refuse to be the person that causes that kind of rift. A club that’s divided will crumble at some point since you never know if your brothers will have your back or not if things turn ugly. I won’t be the reason why people get hurt or if the club disbands.”
Swallowing, I realize this can’t wait until later. At least not this part. “Sunshine, I fully intend to make you my Old Lady. I’m already more than half-way in love with you, even though we just met. And if the club won’t accept or support us, then I’ll leave with you. As much as I’d miss them, I could never forgive myself if I let you go. You’re my everything, Sunshine, and I hope you’ll see me as your man, your everything, soon too.”
Her eyes once again turn misty as her lips part further in surprise. Not being able to take it anymore. I lean down and kiss her, trying to push all of my emotions into the kiss so she realizes I’m not joking about any of this.
She kisses me back, hesitantly at first, before she melts against me, kissing me harder. When I pull back, we’re both breathing heavily. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Smoke come out of the clubhouse and his gaze zeroes in on her instantly. His scowl deepens when he sees her in my arms. I’ll wait till later to kick his ass so I don’t ruin Levi’s party. Plus, I don’t want to scare Mae.
“Come on,” I say as I take her hand and lead her over to the other ladies. Once she’s settled, I lean down and wiggle my eyebrows. “How about a kiss for good luck?”
She laughs, though I can tell it’s still strained and not as bright and bubbly as earlier. She leans forward and gives me a quick kiss, then laughs harder when I pout.
“Nope. Now, go kick butt and maybe you’ll get another one later.”
I go to protest, but her gaze quickly cuts to my right before landing back on me. It’s then that I notice Sadie’s watching us, so I bite back my reply and instead kiss her forehead.
“You got it, Sunshine. Make sure you cheer for me.” I wink at her and she smiles, but then I see her start to wilt in on herself. Looking around quickly, I almost instantly spot the reason why her mood’s changed, even though he isn’t in her line of sight. God damn mother fucker.
“Try not to let him get to you,” I whisper and with another quick kiss, I go to pull back but stop when she whispers back in reply.
“Easier said than done,” she says as her eyes turn misty again. It takes everything in me not to pick her up and just take her home, but she said she wanted to stay.
“Let me know whenever you want to go home, okay?”
“Okay.”
I steal one more quick kiss before leveling Smoke with a glare of my own as I stand. He holds my gaze for a few moments before he looks away. However, he doesn’t look away because of how pissed I am at him and whatever the hell he said to Sunshine. No, he looks away to grab another bottle of beer on the table next to him. He’s been guzzling drinks left and right tonight.
Turning, I walk toward the targets, even though everything in me is screaming at me to turn around and take care of my woman. When I get to the table set in between both groups, I pick up a pack of three blades. Pulling them out, I get a feel for their weight again and check the tips before we start.
While the rest of us wait for the others to show up, I notice Sasha frequently looking over toward where Sunshine and the other women are sitting. Levi walks over to her and soon they’re talking quietly in Russian. My worry increases, but before I can head over to talk to them, a heavy hand lands on my shoulder.
“That’s quite some girl you got there, Timber,” Reaper says with a smirk right as Dragon walks over by us.
“Yeah, she’s definitely something, so you better make sure you and your guys back the fuck off, Reap. She’s mine.” His eyebrows raise at the warning in my voice before his smirk deepens.
“Well, hot damn. Looks like another one caught the bug.”
Dragon looks between me and the direction Sunshine’s sitting and I narrow my eyes at him, not liking where this could go. He sighs when his gaze returns to mine.
